Intelligent baseband operating mode selection for 5G based device

ABSTRACT

An accessory device may dynamically determine to transition a cellular connection between mobile-initiated communication only (MICO) mode and non-MICO mode based on a variety of factors. The accessory device may be configured to communicate through a non-cellular network in addition to the cellular network. The accessory device may transition from MICO to non-MICO mode based on one or more of: loss of the non-cellular connection; location of the accessory device; a call, data, or SMS request failure over the non-cellular network; or other factors.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/400,571, titled “Intelligent Baseband Operating Mode Selection for 5GBased Device” and filed on May 1, 2019, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/670,531, titled “IntelligentBaseband Operating Mode Selection for 5G Based Device” and filed on May11, 2018, which are both hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety, as though fully and completely set forth herein.

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communication, including totechniques for intelligently managing baseband operating modes in a userequipment device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. Further,wireless communication technology has evolved from voice-onlycommunications to also include the transmission of data, such asInternet and multimedia content.

Mobile electronic devices may take the form of smart phones or tabletsthat a user typically carries. Wearable devices (also referred to asaccessory devices) are a newer form of mobile electronic device, oneexample being smart watches. Typically, wearable devices have relativelylimited wireless communications capabilities and typically have smallerbatteries than larger portable devices, such as smart phones andtablets. In general, it would be desirable to reduce the powerrequirements of communication devices and improve user experience.Therefore, improvements in the field are desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, systems, apparatuses,and methods for dynamic mode selection for a user equipment device (UE)and an accessory wireless device.

The accessory wireless device may be a link budget limited device, suchas an accessory device with a relatively limited communication range,e.g., due to device design constraints. Additionally or alternatively,battery power may be a limited resource for the accessory wirelessdevice, such that managing the power consumption resulting from cellularservice operations may be desirable.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, accessory and/or wearable computingdevices, portable media players, cellular base stations and othercellular network infrastructure equipment, servers, and any of variousother computing devices.

This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of the embodiments is consideredin conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system including anaccessory device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system where an accessory device canselectively either directly communicate with a cellular base station orutilize the cellular capabilities of an intermediate or proxy devicesuch as a smart phone, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless device,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station andaccess point, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates a possible example coverage scenario for smartphonesand smart watches, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates existing mode transition behavior, according to theprior art;

FIG. 7 illustrates dynamic mode selection, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 8 is a communication flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor performing dynamic mode selection by a user equipment device (UE),according to some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a communication flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor performing dynamic mode selection by a network entity, according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method forperforming dynamic mode selection while an accessory device has anavailable cellular and non-cellular network connection, according tosome embodiments; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method forperforming dynamic mode selection while an accessory device is pairedwith a companion device, according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein are susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Terminology

The following are definitions of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™ PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer system devices whichperforms wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” (also called “eNB”) has the fullbreadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wirelesscommunication station installed at a fixed location and used tocommunicate as part of a wireless cellular communication system.

Link Budget Limited—includes the full breadth of its ordinary meaning,and at least includes a characteristic of a wireless device (a UE) whichexhibits limited communication capabilities, or limited power, relativeto a device that is not link budget limited, or relative to devices forwhich a radio access technology (RAT) standard has been developed. A UEthat is link budget limited may experience relatively limited receptionand/or transmission capabilities, which may be due to one or morefactors such as device design, device size, battery size, antenna sizeor design, transmit power, receive power, current transmission mediumconditions, and/or other factors. Such devices may be referred to hereinas “link budget limited” (or “link budget constrained”) devices. Adevice may be inherently link budget limited due to its size, batterypower, and/or transmit/receive power. For example, a smart watch that iscommunicating over LTE or LTE-A with a base station may be inherentlylink budget limited due to its reduced transmit/receive power and/orreduced antenna. Wearable devices, such as smart watches, are generallylink budget limited devices. Alternatively, a device may not beinherently link budget limited, e.g., may have sufficient size, batterypower, and/or transmit/receive power for normal communications over LTEor LTE-A, but may be temporarily link budget limited due to currentcommunication conditions, e.g., a smart phone being at the edge of acell, etc. It is noted that the term “link budget limited” includes orencompasses power limitations, and thus a power limited device may beconsidered a link budget limited device.

Processing Element (or Processor)—refers to various elements orcombinations of elements. Processing elements include, for example,circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit),portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as afield programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or larger portions of systemsthat include multiple processors.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1-2 —Wireless Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless cellular communicationsystem. It is noted that FIG. 1 represents one possibility among many,and that features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any ofvarious systems, as desired. For example, embodiments described hereinmay be implemented in any type of wireless device. The wirelessembodiment described below is one example embodiment.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes acellular base station 102, which communicates over a transmission mediumwith one or more wireless devices 106A, 106B, etc., as well as accessorydevice 107. Wireless devices 106A, 106B, and 107 may be user devices,which may be referred to herein as “user equipment” (UE) or UE devices.

The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UE devices 106A, 106B, and 107. The base station 102 may also beequipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of acellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, among variouspossibilities). Thus, the base station 102 may facilitate communicationamong the UE devices 106 and 107 and/or between the UE devices 106/107and the network 100. In other implementations, base station 102 can beconfigured to provide communications over one or more other wirelesstechnologies, such as an access point supporting one or more WLANprotocols, such as 802.11a, b, g, n, ac, ad, and/or ax, or LTE in anunlicensed band (LAA).

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station 102 may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 and the UEs 106/107 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs) or wireless communicationtechnologies, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced(LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eIRPD),Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc.

Base station 102 and other similar base stations (not shown) operatingaccording to one or more cellular communication technologies may thus beprovided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearlycontinuous overlapping service to UE devices 106A-N and 107 and similardevices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communicationtechnologies.

Note that at least in some instances a UE device 106/107 may be capableof communicating using any of a plurality of wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, a UE device 106/107 might be configured tocommunicate using one or more of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, NR,WLAN, BLUETOOTH™ (referred to as Bluetooth herein for simplicity), oneor more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS orGLONASS), one and/or more mobile television broadcasting standards(e.g., ATSC-M/H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communicationtechnologies (including more than two wireless communicationtechnologies) are also possible. Likewise, in some instances a UE device106/107 may be configured to communicate using only a single wirelesscommunication technology.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system also includes aWi-Fi access point 104, which communicates over a transmission mediumwith the wireless device 106B as well as accessory device 107. The Wi-FiAccess point also provides communicative connectivity to the network100. Thus, according to some embodiments, wireless devices may be ableto connect to either or both of the base station 102 (or anothercellular base station) and the access point 104 (or another accesspoint) to access the network 100 at a given time.

The UEs 106A and 106B may include handheld devices such as smart phonesor tablets, and/or may include any of various types of device withcellular communications capability. For example, one or more of the UEs106A and 106B may be a wireless device intended for stationary ornomadic deployment such as an appliance, measurement device, controldevice, etc. The UE 106B may be configured to communicate with the UEdevice 107, which may be referred to as an accessory device 107. Theaccessory device (AD) 107 may be any of various types of wirelessdevices, typically a wearable device that has a smaller form factor, andmay have limited battery, output power and/or communications abilitiesrelative to UEs 106. As one common example, the UE 106B may be a smartphone carried by a user, and the AD 107 may be a smart watch worn bythat same user. The UE 106B and the AD 107 may communicate using any ofvarious short range communication protocols, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

The UE 106B may also be configured to communicate with the UE 106A. Forexample, the UE 106A and UE 106B may be capable of performing directdevice-to-device (D2D) communication. The D2D communication may besupported by the cellular base station 102 (e.g., the BS 102 mayfacilitate discovery, among various possible forms of assistance), ormay be performed in a manner unsupported by the BS 102.

The accessory device 107 includes cellular communication capability andhence is able to directly communicate with cellular base station 102.However, since the accessory device 107 is possibly limited in one ormore of communication, output power and/or battery power, the accessorydevice 107 may in some instances selectively utilize the ULE 106B as aproxy for communication purposes with the base station 102 and hence tothe network 100, and/or may prioritize access to the network 100obtained via the access point 104. In other words, the accessory device107 may selectively use the cellular communication capabilities of itscompanion device (e.g., UE 106B) and/or its Wi-Fi communicationcapability to conduct its communications. The limitation oncommunication abilities of the accessory device 107 can be permanent,e.g., due to limitations in output power or the radio accesstechnologies (RATs) supported, or temporary, e.g., due to conditionssuch as current battery status, inability to access a network, or poorreception.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example accessory device 107 in communication withbase station 102. The accessory device 107 may be a wearable device suchas a smart watch. The accessory device 107 may have cellularcommunication capability and be capable of directly communicating withthe base station 102, as shown. FIG. 2 also illustrates the accessorydevice 107 in communication with access point 104. The accessory device107 may also have Wi-Fi communication capability and be capable ofdirectly communicating with the access point 104, as shown.

The accessory device 107 may also be capable of communicating withanother device (e.g., UE 106), referred to as a proxy device,intermediate device, or companion device, using a short rangecommunications protocol; for example, the accessory device 107 mayaccording to some embodiments be “paired” with the UE 106. Under somecircumstances, the accessory device 107 may use the cellularfunctionality of this proxy device for communicating cellular voice/datawith the base station 102 and/or access point 104. In other words, theaccessory device 107 may provide voice/data packets intended for thebase station 102 or access point 104 over the short range link to the UE106, and the UE 106 may use its cellular or Wi-Fi functionality totransmit (or relay) this voice/data to the base station/access point onbehalf of the accessory device 107. Similarly, the voice/data packetstransmitted by the base station/access point and intended for theaccessory device 107 may be received by the cellular/Wi-Fi functionalityof the UE 106 and then may be relayed over the short range link to theaccessory device. As noted above, the UE 106 may be a mobile phone, atablet, or any other type of hand-held device, a media player, acomputer, a laptop or virtually any type of wireless device.

At least in some instances, the accessory device 107 may also oralternatively selectively utilize one or the other of cellular or Wi-Ficommunication capability to communicate directly with a cellular basestation or a Wi-Fi access point, e.g., even if both options may beavailable. For example, if both wireless link options are available andare capable of providing the communication services currently desired bythe accessory device 107, the accessory device 107 might prioritize theWi-Fi link, e.g., to potentially reduce device power consumption and/orif the Wi-Fi link is considered to have a lower economic cost. Asdescribed further subsequently herein, the UE 106 and/or the accessorydevice 107 may manage the wireless connectivity of the accessory device107 in accordance with any of a variety of additional or alternativeconsiderations at various times.

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include a device or integrated circuit forfacilitating cellular communication, referred to as a cellular modem.The cellular modem may include one or more processors (processorelements) and various hardware components as described herein. The UE106 and/or 107 may perform any of the method embodiments describedherein by executing instructions on one or more programmable processors.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more processors may be one ormore programmable hardware elements such as an FPGA (field-programmablegate array), or other circuitry, that is configured to perform any ofthe method embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of themethod embodiments described herein. The cellular modem described hereinmay be used in a UE device as defined herein, a wireless device asdefined herein, or a communication device as defined herein. Thecellular modem described herein may also be used in a base station orother similar network side device.

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include one or more antennas for communicatingusing two or more wireless communication protocols or radio accesstechnologies. In some embodiments, the UE device 106/107 might beconfigured to communicate using a single shared radio. The shared radiomay couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Alternatively,the UE device 106/107 may include two or more radios. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

The accessory device 107 may be any of various types of devices that, insome embodiments, has a smaller form factor relative to a conventionalsmart phone, and may have one or more of limited communicationcapabilities, limited output power, or limited battery life relative toa conventional smart phone. As noted above, in some embodiments, theaccessory device 107 is a smart watch or other type of wearable device.As another example, the accessory device 107 may be a tablet device,such as an iPad, with Wi-Fi capabilities (and possibly limited cellularcommunication capabilities). Thus, as defined above, the term “accessorydevice” refers to any of various types of devices that in some instanceshave limited or reduced communication capabilities and hence mayselectively and opportunistically utilize the UE 106 as a proxy forcommunication purposes for one or more applications and/or RATs, and/ormay otherwise selective utilize its wireless communication capabilities.As previously noted, when the UE 106 is capable of being used by theaccessory device 107 as a proxy, the UE 106 may be referred to as acompanion device to the accessory device 107.

FIG. 3 —Example Block Diagram of a UE Device

FIG. 3 illustrates one possible block diagram of an UE device, such asUE device 106 or accessory device 107. As shown, the UE device 106/107may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions forvarious purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may includeprocessor(s) 302 which may execute program instructions for the UEdevice 106/107, and display circuitry 304 which may perform graphicsprocessing and provide display signals to the display 360. The SOC 300may also include motion sensing circuitry 370 which may detect motion ofthe UE 106, for example using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and/or any ofvarious other motion sensing components. The processor(s) 302 may alsobe coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configuredto receive addresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory(ROM) 350, flash memory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to performmemory protection and page table translation or set up. In someembodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as a portion of theprocessor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106/107. For example, the UE 106/107 may include various types of memory(e.g., including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., forcoupling to a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), thedisplay 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE,LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.).

The UE device 106/107 may include at least one antenna, and in someembodiments may include multiple antennas 335 a, 335 b, and/or 335 c,for performing wireless communication with base stations and/or otherdevices. For example, the UE device 106/107 may use antennas 335 a-c toperform the wireless communication. As noted above, the UE device106/107 may in some embodiments be configured to communicate wirelesslyusing a plurality of wireless communication standards and/or radioaccess technologies (RATs).

The wireless communication circuitry 330 may include Wi-Fi Logic 332, aCellular Modem 334, and Bluetooth Logic 336. The Wi-Fi Logic 332 is forenabling the UE device 106/107 to perform Wi-Fi communications on an802.11 network (other WLAN communication protocols are also possible).The Bluetooth Logic 336 is for enabling the UE device 106/107 to performBluetooth communications. The cellular modem 334 may be a lower powercellular modem capable of performing cellular communication according toone or more cellular communication technologies.

The cellular modem 334 may be powered by a baseband processor (BB) 338,which may be separately powered on or off depending on whether the UE106/107 is actively conducting cellular communications. For example, theBB 338 may be powered off independently of whether the UE is activelyconducting WiFi or Bluetooth communications.

As described herein, UE 106/107 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing embodiments of this disclosure. For example,one or more components of the wireless communication circuitry 330(e.g., Wi-Fi logic 332, cellular modem 334, Bluetooth logic 336) of theUE device 106/107 may be configured to implement part or all of themethods described herein, e.g., by a processor executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium), a processor configured as an FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array), and/or using dedicated hardwarecomponents, which may include an ASIC (Application Specific IntegratedCircuit).

FIG. 4 —Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102 oraccess point 104, according to some embodiments. It is noted that thebase station of FIG. 4 is merely one example of a possible base station.As shown, the base station 102/access point 104 may include processor(s)404 which may execute program instructions for the base station102/access point 104. The processor(s) 404 may also be coupled to memorymanagement unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addressesfrom the processor(s) 404 and translate those addresses to locations inmemory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory (ROM) 450) or to othercircuits or devices.

The base station 102/access point 104 may include at least one networkport 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to atelephone network and provide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices106/107, access to the telephone network as described above in FIGS. 1and 2 .

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106/107. In some cases, the network port470 may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or thecore network may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UEdevices serviced by the cellular service provider).

The base station 102/access point 104 may include at least one antenna434, and possibly multiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may beconfigured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be furtherconfigured to communicate with UE devices 106/107 via radio 430. Theantenna(s) 434 communicates with the radio 430 via communication chain432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain orboth. The radio 430 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, LTE,LTE-A, NR, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102/access point 104 may be configured to communicatewirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In someinstances, the base station 102 may include multiple radios, which mayenable the base station 102 to communicate according to multiplewireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility,the base station 102/access point 104 may include an LTE radio forperforming communication according to LTE as well as a Wi-Fi radio forperforming communication according to Wi-Fi. In such a case, the basestation 102/access point 104 may be capable of operating as both an LTEbase station and a Wi-Fi access point. As another possibility, the basestation 102/access point 104 may include a multi-mode radio which iscapable of performing communications according to any of multiplewireless communication technologies (e.g., LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS,LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.). As still another possibilty, thebase station 102/access point 104 may be configured to act exclusivelyas a Wi-Fi access point, e.g., without cellular communicationcapability.

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102/AP 104 may includehardware and software components for implementing or supportingimplementation of features described herein. The processor 404 of thebase station 102/access point 104 may be configured to implement orsupport implementation of part or all of the methods described herein,e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g.,a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102/AP 104, in conjunctionwith one or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460,470 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part orall of the features described herein.

FIG. 5 —Example Coverage Scenario

FIG. 5 illustrates one possible example of a coverage scenario forsmartphones and smart watches, according to some embodiments. As shown,a base station 502 may provide a cell for a variety of wireless devices,including various smartphones 506 and various smart watches 507. Suchdifferent types of devices may have differing characteristics thatresult in different effective communication ranges. Thus, as shown, theeffective watch cell range 510 may be smaller than the effectivesmartphone cell range 520. As a result, while all of the illustratedsmartphones (506A, 506B, 506C, 506D, 506E) may be within communicativerange of the base station 502 and thus may be able to receive cellularcommunication service from the cell, only one of the illustrated smartwatches (507A) may be within communicative range of the base station502, and the remainder of the illustrated smart watches (507B, 507C,507D) may be outside of communicative range of the base station 502.Unless there are one or more other cells within range of these smartwatches 507B-D, they may be unable to obtain cellular communicationservice and may accordingly experience cellular service loss. Note thatwhile FIG. 5 illustrates a scenario including smartphones and smartwatches, similar scenarios with other types of UE companion devices andassociated accessory devices, as variously described above, are alsowithin the scope of the instant disclosure.

Thus, since cellular base station deployment may at least in someinstances be arranged to provide efficient cellular communicationcoverage for smartphones and other devices with similar cellularcommunication ranges, coverage scenarios such as illustrated in FIG. 5may result in smart watches and/or other devices with smaller thanaverage cellular communication ranges (e.g., link budget limiteddevices) experiencing a greater variety of coverage conditions than someother devices, e.g., potentially including more commonly experiencingcell edge and/or out-of-service conditions, which may in turn affect therelative desirability of a cellular link at various times. Further,since cellular service recovery operations, cellular communications whenat the edge of cellular communication range, and even cellularcommunications in general may at least in some instances be relativelymore power consuming than Wi-Fi communications, it may be the case thatsome link budget limited devices with both cellular and Wi-Ficommunication capability may be configured to prefer Wi-Fi communicationover cellular communication.

For example, techniques that consider battery power as a limitedresource and only selectively utilize cellular communicationcapabilities (e.g., potentially including when they might be available),particularly when an equivalently functional Wi-Fi communication link(e.g., that may support voice, short messaging service (SMS), and/orother services that might be available via cellular communication) isavailable, may have a notable beneficial effect on such link budgetlimited devices, at least in some instances.

However, in some instances, a Wi-Fi link may be available but may notprovide equivalent functionality as a cellular link. For example, insome instances, a user could be in a situation in which an accessorydevice is associated to an un-authenticated Wi-Fi AP, and may try toperform IMS registration, but may be unable to do so. If the accessorydevice were to assume that having a Wi-Fi link provided sufficientcommunicative capability that cellular communication capability for theaccessory device was not needed at such a time, this could result in auser of the accessory device not being able to use at least some desiredcommunication services. At least for some devices, the only way toremedy such a situation may include the user explicitly forcing acompanion device to the accessory device to forget/delete the networkprovided by the Wi-Fi AP from the companion's settings, and relay theinformation to the accessory device to clear such an un-authenticated APfrom the memory of the accessory device. Thus, in such (and potentiallyother) instances, it may be useful to provide more nuanced wirelessconnectivity management techniques for accessory devices that arecapable of utilizing multiple wireless communication technologies.

Transitions Between Connectivity Scenarios for Accessory Device

FIG. 6 illustrates methods, according to some current implementations,whereby an accessory device such as an AD 107 may switch between variousbaseband operating modes upon transitioning between three connectivityscenarios: 1) availability of a companion device (UE), 2) availabilityof a WLAN connection such as a WiFi connection in addition to anavailable cellular connection (with no available companion device, and3) availability of a cellular connection only (with no availablecompanion device or WLAN connection).

As illustrated, while the AD 107 is connected (e.g., through Bluetooth(BT) or another short-range RAT) to a companion device, the basebandprocessor 338 powering the cellular radio of the accessory device may bepowered off to preserve battery life, as the accessory device may usethe companion device as a relay to communicate with the network. Whenthe connection with the companion device is lost (e.g., if the accessorydevice moves out of range of the companion device), the accessory devicemay power on the BB to attempt to connect with the network using one orboth of a WLAN connection to an access point and/or a cellularconnection with a base station (e.g., an eNB or a gNB).

For example, if both a WLAN connection and a cellular connection areavailable when the accessory device loses its connection to itscompanion device, the accessory device may utilize its WLAN radio toestablish a connection with the network using an available WLAN accesspoint, and the accessory device may communicate voice and/or data overthe WLAN connection. The accessory device may further power on its BB,and may operate its cellular radio in a commercial mobile alert system(CMAS)-only mode. In other words, the accessory device may primarilyutilize the WLAN connection for performing network communications, butmay power on the BB for emergency messaging purposes only.

Alternatively, if only a cellular connection is available when theaccessory device (AD) loses its connection to its companion device, theAD may power on its BB and act as a standalone cellular device. Forexample, the AD may camp on a base station and perform a full range oftypical cellular voice and/or data communications using its cellularradio.

Switching between these three scenarios (i.e., BT proximity to companiondevice, availability of WLAN and cellular without a companion device inrange, and availability of cellular only without a companion device inrange) may involve significant time delay and energy expenditure to bootup the baseband processor, perform cellular system selection, and/orattach/detach procedures with wireless access points and/or cellularbase stations.

For example, when a BT connection with the companion device is lost, asignificant power cost may be incurred to perform baseband imagedownload, system selection, SIM initialization, etc., and a boot-updelay of approximately 12 seconds (or another duration, depending on thedevice) may be incurred in booting up the baseband processor. This mayadversely affect the user experience, as a data application may takemore time when the accessory device is located at the edge of a BTcoverage range. Additionally, the AD may experience a data applicationquery failure due to transport layer unavailability, and/or livestreaming data stalls of up to 20 seconds during the transition from aBT connection with the companion device to a cellular connection.

Additionally, switching between a cellular only scenario and a WLAN pluscellular scenario may incur an undesirable burden on the AD. Forexample, when the AD moves from “Cellular Only” to “WiFi+Cellular”, thebaseband may transition to CMAS-only mode without any signaling betweenAD and the network, and the mobility and public data network (PDN)contexts may be saved on a best effort basis. From the network side, itmay appear as though device went out of service. For mobile terminateddata, the NW may page the AD and the AD may not respond, resulting innetwork resource wastage. Often, the network may remove the devicecontext of the AD because the AD is not reachable.

When the AD moves from “WiFi+Cellular” to “Cellular Only”, the AD maytry to resume the mobility and PDN contexts by sending “service request”or “tracking area update” procedures to the network. Sometimes thesecontexts may be released, causing the AD to start an attach procedure.

Embodiments herein propose solutions to improve on these legacyprocedures by implementing dynamic device mode selection and utilizing amobile-initiated communication only (MICO) mode to preserve time andenergy in an accessory device while switching between differentconnectivity scenarios.

FIG. 7 —Dynamic Device Mode Selection

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for an accessorydevice (AD) to utilize dynamic device mode selection to switch betweenMICO mode and a normal operating mode during a transition betweendifferent connectivity scenarios. As illustrated, while the AD is pairedwith its companion device, the AD may use the cellular and/or WLAN radioof the companion device to relay information to the network. The AD mayswitch on its cellular baseband in a MICO mode while paired with thecompanion device, wherein only the AD may initiate communications withthe network, as the AD is considered unreachable by the network and willnot be paged by the network. The AD may also operate in MICO mode whenboth a WLAN and a cellular connection are available, but the AD is notpaired to a companion device. Finally, when only a cellular connectionis available (e.g., when both a companion device and a WLAN connectionare unavailable), the AD may exit MICO mode and operate as a normalcellular device. The following sections describe in greater detailprocedures for transitioning between the three illustrated connectivityscenarios, according to some embodiments.

Bluetooth Proximity→WiFi+Cellular:

In some embodiments, when the AD loses its BT connection to thecompanion device and enters an environment with available WLAN andcellular signals, the baseband may continue to operate in MICO mode overcellular access. If CMAS over the WLAN connection is not supported, theAD may switch on its cellular receiver to listen to CMAS messages.Additionally, the AD may register to a 5G network (NW) over its WLANaccess for the services like voice and/or data.

Bluetooth Proximity→Cellular Only

In some embodiments, when the AD loses its BT connection to thecompanion device and enters an environment with an available cellularconnection only (e.g., without an available WLAN connection), the AD mayinitiate a registration procedure to exit MICO mode and enter a fullcellular connectivity mode. Advantageously, this registration proceduremay be initiated without a baseband boot-up delay, as the baseband isalready powered on in MICO mode, thereby improving data applicationresponse time.

Cellular Only→WiFi+Cellular:

In some embodiments, the AD may transition from a cellular only mode toa cellular plus WLAN mode (e.g., the AD may have an established cellularconnection and may move into proximity of a WLAN access point). In theseembodiments, the baseband may enter MICO mode using a registrationprocedure. The mobility and PDN contexts may be saved for future use,with consent from the network. In some embodiments, If CMAS over theWLAN connection is not supported, the cellular receiver may be switchedon for CMAS purposes.

Cellular Only→Bluetooth proximity:

In some embodiments, the AD may transition from a cellular only modeinto pairing proximity of its companion device. In these embodiments,the baseband may enter MICO mode through a registration procedure.Mobility & PDN contexts may be saved with consent from the network.

WiFi+Cellular→Cellular Only:

In some embodiments, the AD may transition from having available both aWLAN and a cellular connection to only having available a cellularconnection (e.g., the AD move out of range of a WLAN access point). Inthese embodiments, the baseband may exit MICO mode using a registrationprocedure. The baseband may resume mobility and PDN contexts.

WiFi+Cellular→Bluetooth Only:

In some embodiments, the AD may have available both a WLAN and acellular connection and may transition to be reachable by its companiondevice. In these embodiments, the UE may pair with the companion deviceand the baseband may continue to operate in MICO mode. If not alreadypowered off, the AD may power off its cellular receiver to preservepower.

Hybrid MICO Mode Over 3GPP Access Non-3GPP Access

In some embodiments, a MICO mode-enabled UE may register to the same 5GgNB using non-3GPP access as well as 3GPP access. In some embodiments,the UE may operate in MICO mode over 3GPP access and non-MICO mode overnon-3GPP access at the same time. An Access and Mobility ManagementFunction (AMF) may include an “all PLMN registration area allocated”indication in the MICO indication information element (IE) to the UEover 3GPP access. The AMF may also accept the device registration overnon-3GPP access as one single common registration area for an entirepublic land mobile network (PLMN).

It may be possible for a MICO mode UE to be in a connected state“CM-CONNECTED” over non-3GPP access and an idle state “CM-IDLE” over3GPP access. In this case, the AMF may not page the UE over 3GPP accessas the device is in MICO mode. The AMF may send data/signaling overnon-3GPP access without any restrictions, as allowed by network policy.

In this mode, the AMF may not send 3GPP access-related notificationmessages over non-3GPP access and the AMF may still honor device MICOmode privileges over 3GPP access. In some embodiments, a UE maydynamically change its device mode between MICO and non-MICO based onvarious parameters such as location, non-3GPP and/or 3GPP cellularcoverage, user actions like an emergency call, etc., to improve devicebattery performance.

Potential Behaviors for UE and the AMF

In some embodiments, an AD may operate in MICO mode over 3GPP access andnon-MICO mode over non-3GPP access, and it may register with the sameAMF over both accesses for the same PLMN.

In some embodiments, when the device is trying to register for MICO modeover 3GPP access, if the device was already registered over non-3GPPaccess as one single common registration area for an entire PLMN, thenthe AMF may choose to accept device registration with an “all PLMNregistration area allocated” indication in the MICO indication IE forthe same PLMN and the AMF may select the N3GPP tracking area information(TAI) for the entire PLMN for 3GPP access and for non-3GPP access.

In some embodiments, when MICO mode is activated and if the UE is alsoregistered over the non-3GPP access, the AMF may not send a notificationmessage with an access type indicating 3GPP access over the non-3GPPaccess for packet data unit (PDU) sessions associated with 3GPP access.

In some embodiments, if network policy allows delivery of downlink (DL)network access stratum (NAS) transport messaging either through 3GPPaccess or non-3GPP access, the AMF may select non-3GPP access if the UEis in MICO mode and in 5GMM-IDLE state for 3GPP access. Otherwise, theAMF may select either 3GPP access or non-3GPP access. In someembodiments, this may be applied to other services besides DL NAStransport messages, which may carry the downlink PDUs over a signalingor data path.

In some embodiments, the AD may operate in MICO mode over 3GPP accessand non-MICO mode over non-3GPP access, and it may register withdifferent AMFs to get services from two different PLMNs. The network mayaccept registration from a single common registration area for an entirePLMN, for a particular tracking area, or from a set of tracking areasfor each access independently.

FIG. 8 —User-Initiated MICO to Non-MICO Mode Transition

In some embodiments, the AD may dynamically initiate transitions of acellular connection into and out of MICO based on a variety of events.For example, the AD may dynamically change its device mode between MICOand non-MICO based on device location, wherein the AD may always proposeto operate in MICO mode in a home country and non-MICO mode in roamingcountry. Alternatively or additionally, the AD may transition betweenMICO and non-MICO mode based on properties of is connected WLAN accesspoint. For example, the AD may choose to operate in MICO mode over 3GPPaccess when it selects a frequently visited WiFi network and isregistered to the 5G core network through non-3GPP access. For all otherWi-Fi access points selected, the AD may choose to operate in non-MICOover 3GPP access.

As illustrated in FIG. 8 , the AD may transmit a registration requestover 3GPP access at step 802 to the AMF via the gNB with a MICOindicator information element (IE), to request that the UE wishes toenter MICO mode. The AMF may respond at step 804 through the gNB with aregistration accept message over 3GPP access, whereby the UE may enterMICO mode and transition to a connection management (CM) idle state atstep 806.

In some embodiments, when access point coverage is lost (e.g., if theWiFi signal is lost), the AD may exit from MICO mode and may re-registerwith normal mode over 3GPP access, to resume any ongoing voice and/ordata sessions over cellular 3GPP access. In some embodiments, the AD mayexit from MICO mode over 3GPP access based on user-specific events, suchas a call, data, and/or SMS request failure over non-3GPP access, orupon user-initiated powering down of the WLAN radio of the AD.

As illustrated, to exit MICO mode the AD may transmit a re-registrationrequest at step 808 over 3GPP access to the AMF without a MICO modeindicator IE (i.e., requesting re-registration in non-MICO mode), and inresponse, the AD may receive a registration accept message at step 810from the AMF. The AD may thereby initiate a mode change to non-MICOmode, to commence normal cellular communications with the gNB.

FIG. 9 —Network-Initiated MICO to Non-MICO Mode Transition

In some embodiments, transitions between MICO and non-MICO mode may beinitiated by the network. For example, network-initiated mode change mayoccur when a MICO mode-enabled device is in a CM_IDLE state over 3GPPaccess. In current implementations, after the AD and network negotiatethe MICO mode, the network may transition the AD from MICO to non-MICOmode when the AD is in a CM_CONNECTED state over 3GPP access. Thenetwork may have difficulty in revoking MICO mode when the AD is inCM_IDLE state over 3GPP access. Network-initiated transitions may bedesirable when the device policy changes on the network side.

In these embodiments, the AMF may use non-3GPP access to deliver aconfiguration update to the AD, which may lead the AD to triggerre-registration, whereupon the network may choose to not grant the MICOmode.

As illustrated, the AD may initially establish MICO mode with the AMFover 3GPP access, similar to the method described above in reference toFIG. 8 , whereby a registration request message is sent at step 902 anda registration accept message is received at step 904 to establish MICOmode for 3GPP access with the network. Additionally, the AD mayindependently establish a registration procedure over non-3GPP access(e.g., over a WiFi network) to the same AMF at step 906 via a non-3GPPInter-Working Function (N3IWF). The AD may subsequently operate in aCM_IDLE state over 3GPP access (i.e., in MICO mode), while operating ina CM_CONNECTED state over non-3GPP access. At this stage, the networkmay observe a device policy change such that the network may desire totransition the AD to a non-MICO mode over 3GPP access. Because the AD isnot listening for messages over 3GPP access (e.g., because it is in MICOmode), the network may utilize the CM_CONNECTED state over non-3GPPaccess to transmit a UE configuration update command with a MICOindicator at step 908 via the N3IWF, effectively requesting that the ADre-negotiates establishment of the MICO mode. This may in turn cause theAD to reattempt its registration request over 3GPP access at step 910,with a MICO mode indicator information element. However, the AMF mayrespond with a registration accept that does not include MICO indicatorinformation element, to re-register the connection with the 3GPP networkin a non-MICO mode at step 912, whereby the AD may conduct a mode changefrom MICO mode to non-MICO mode over the 3GPP access.

These embodiments allow the network to modify the device policy evenwhen MICO device is in CM-IDLE state. Advantageously, this may giveflexibility for the network to deactivate and/or re-activate the MICOmode at any time.

FIGS. 10-11 —Flowcharts for Transitioning Between MICO and Non-MICOModes

FIGS. 10-11 are flowchart diagrams illustrating methods for utilizingdynamic device mode selection to switch between MICO mode and a normaloperating mode during transitions between different connectivityscenarios, according to some embodiments. More specifically, FIG. 10illustrates a method for transitioning from a connectivity scenario whena cellular connection and non-cellular connection with a network entityare both initially available. Note that while such use of wirelessconnection management techniques may be particularly beneficial to linkbudget limited devices such as an accessory device 107, it should benoted that such techniques may also be beneficial to non-link budgetlimited wireless devices (e.g., including wireless devices with largercellular communication ranges, such as a UE 106), at least in someinstances. Accordingly, it should be noted that any or all aspects ofthe method of FIG. 10 may also or alternatively be used in conjunctionwith such devices if desired.

While aspects of the method of FIG. 11 are described as implemented byan accessory wireless device (such as an accessory device 107)illustrated in and described with respect to FIGS. 1-3 , the describedmethod may also be implemented by a companion wireless device (such as aUE 106) and more generally in conjunction with any of the computersystems or devices shown in the above Figures, among other devices, asdesired.

In various embodiments, some of the elements of the methods shown may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than shown, may besubstituted for by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additionalmethod elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the methodmay operate as follows.

At 1002, the accessory device (AD) may establish a first connection witha network entity with the first radio through the cellular networkaccording to a mobile-initiated connection only (MICO) mode. In someembodiments, while operating according to the MICO mode, the AD isconfigured to not monitor for paging communications using the firstradio. In some embodiments, establishing a first connection with thenetwork entity with the first radio through the cellular networkaccording to the MICO mode comprises transmitting a registration requestto the network entity with a MICO mode indicator information element.

At 1004, a second connection may be established with the network entitywith the second radio through a non-cellular network. For example, theAD may establish a connection with the network entity through a WiFiaccess point, where the second radio is a WiFi radio, or another WLANradio. In some embodiments, the AD may determine that emergencymessaging is not available over the non-cellular network. Based ondetermining that emergency messaging is not available over thenon-cellular network, the AD may periodically activate a receiver of thefirst radio to monitor for emergency messages using the cellularnetwork.

At 1006, it is determined that the second connection with the networkentity has been lost. For example, the AD may move out of range of thewireless access point through which the AD is connected via the secondconnection, while the cellular signal is still available.

At 1008, the first connection may be transitioned from the MICO mode toa non-MICO mode based at least in part on the determination that thesecond connection has been lost. The first connection with the networkentity may be preserved upon transitioning to the non-MICO mode. Aftertransitioning the first connection to a non-MICO mode, the AD mayconduct normal voice and/or data communications with the network entityvia the first connection. In some embodiments, transitioning the firstconnection from the MICO mode to the non-MICO mode is further based on alocation of the AD, as described in greater detail above.

In some embodiments, transitioning the first connection from the MICOmode to the non-MICO mode is network-initiated, and comprisestransmitting a re-registration request to the network entity with theMICO mode indicator information element, and receiving a registrationaccept message from the network without the MICO mode indicatorinformation element. In other embodiments, transitioning the firstconnection from the MICO mode to the non-MICO mode is initiated by theUE, and comprises transmitting a re-registration request to the networkentity without the MICO mode indicator information element.

In some embodiments, it may be determined that a companion device haspaired with the AD using the third radio. The AD may transition abaseband processor of the first radio of the AD into a low power modebased at least in part on the determination that the companion devicehas paired with the AD using the third radio, wherein a receiver of thefirst radio is powered down in the low power mode. The AD may maintainthe first connection in a lower power MICO mode in response todetermining that a companion device has paired with the AD.

In some embodiments, the AD may negotiate with the network entity toestablish a long-term registration timer value associated with the firstconnection based at least in part on the determination that thecompanion device has paired with the AD using the third radio.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method for transitioning from a connectivityscenario when the AD is initially paired with a companion device, andthe pairing is subsequently lost. Note that while such use of wirelessconnection management techniques may be particularly beneficial to linkbudget limited devices such as an AD 107, it should be noted that suchtechniques may also be beneficial to non-link budget limited wirelessdevices (e.g., including wireless devices with larger cellularcommunication ranges, such as a UE 106), at least in some instances.Accordingly, it should be noted that any or all aspects of the method ofFIG. 11 may also or alternatively be used in conjunction with suchdevices if desired.

While aspects of the method of FIG. 11 are described as implemented byan accessory wireless device (such as an AD 107) illustrated in anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 1-3 , the described method may also beimplemented by a companion wireless device (such as a UE 106) and moregenerally in conjunction with any of the computer systems or devicesshown in the above Figures, among other devices, as desired.

In various embodiments, some of the elements of the methods shown may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than shown, may besubstituted for by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additionalmethod elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the methodmay operate as follows.

At 1102, the AD may pair with a companion device using a short-rangeradio access technology (RAT) radio. For example, the AD may pair withthe companion device using a BLUETOOTH™ connection. The companion devicemay be a smartphone associated with the AD, which may be a smart watch,for example.

At 1104, based at least in part on pairing with the companion device,the AD may operate a first connection with a network entity over acellular network via a first radio of the AD in a low powermobile-initiated connection only (MICO) mode, wherein a receiver of thefirst radio is powered down in the low power MICO mode. In someembodiments, while operating in the low power MICO mode, the AD isconfigured to not monitor for paging communications using the firstradio. In some embodiments, further based at least in part on pairingwith the companion device, the AD may negotiate with the network entityto establish a long-term registration timer value associated with thefirst connection.

At 1106, the AD determines that the pairing with the companion devicehas been lost and that the cellular network and a wireless local areanetwork are available. For example, AD may move out of range of thecompanion device, resulting in a loss of pairing.

At 1108, in response to determining that the pairing with the companiondevice has been lost and that the cellular network and the wirelesslocal area network are available, the AD may operate according to anormal MICO mode by powering on the receiver of the first radio toreceive emergency messaging over the cellular network. In someembodiments, and further in response to determining that the pairingwith the companion device has been lost and that the cellular networkand the wireless local area network are available, the AD may establisha second connection with the network entity with a second radio of theAD through the non-cellular network. For example, the second connectionmay be a WLAN connection that connects to the network entity via awireless access point.

In some embodiments, the AD may receive an indication via the secondradio from the network entity through the second connection tore-register the first connection, whereby the AD may transmit, using thefirst radio, a request to re-register the first connection in the normalMICO mode. The AD may receive an acceptance message from the networkentity that accepts the request to reregister the first connection innon-MICO mode. The AD may then transition the first connection from thenormal MICO mode to non-MICO mode in response to receiving theacceptance message, wherein the first radio is configured to transmitand receive messages from the network entity via the cellular networkwhile in the non-MICO mode. Accordingly, the network entity may utilizethe re-registration indication to instigate a transition from MICO modeto non-MICO mode by the AD.

In some embodiments, the AD may determine that the second connectionwith the network entity over the non-cellular network has been lost, andthe AD may transition the first connection from the normal MICO mode toa non-MICO mode based at least in part on the determination that thesecond connection has been lost, wherein the first radio is configuredto transmit and receive messages from the network entity via thecellular network while in the non-MICO mode. For example, based on aloss of the second connection (e.g., if the AD moves out of range of thewireless access point), the AD may automatically transition the firstconnection to a non-MICO mode, so that voice and/or data communicationmay resume via the first connection, to avoid an undesirable serviceinterruption.

In some embodiments, operating the first connection with the networkentity over the cellular network according to the normal MICO modecomprises transmitting a registration request to the network entity witha MICO mode indicator information element. Further, in some embodiments,transitioning the first connection from the normal MICO mode to thenon-MICO mode is network-initiated and comprises transmitting, by theAD, a re-registration request to the network entity with the MICOindicator information element, and receiving a registration acceptmessage from the network without the MICO mode indicator informationelement. In other embodiments, transitioning the first connection fromthe MICO mode to the non-MICO mode is initiated by the AD, and comprisestransmitting a re-registration request to the network entity without theMICO mode indicator information element.

The following numbered paragraphs describe additional embodiments.

In some embodiments, a method is described for operating a userequipment device (UE), the method comprising establishing a firstconnection with a network entity through a cellular network using afirst radio of the UE according to a mobile-initiated connection only(MICO) mode, establishing a second connection with the network entitythrough a non-cellular network using a second radio of the UE, receivingan indication by the second radio from the network entity through thesecond connection to re-register the first connection, transmitting,using the first radio, a request to re-register the first connection inMICO mode, receiving an acceptance message from the network entity thataccepts the request to reregister the first connection in non-MICO mode,and transitioning the first connection from MICO mode to non-MICO modein response to receiving the acceptance message.

In some embodiments, a network entity comprises a first radio configuredto communicate with a cellular network, a second radio configured tocommunicate with a non-cellular network, and a processor coupled to thefirst radio and the second radio.

The network entity may be configured to establish a first connectionwith a user equipment device (UE) through the cellular network using thefirst radio according to a mobile-initiated connection only (MICO) mode,establish a second connection with the UE through the non-cellularnetwork using the second radio, receive a notification from a remoteentity that a device policy associated with the UE has changed, at leastin part in response to receiving the notification, transmit anindication to the UE through the second connection to re-register thefirst connection, receive, through the first connection, a request fromthe UE to re-register the first connection in the MICO mode, andtransmit, through the first connection, an acceptance message thatindicates acceptance of the request to reregister the first connectionin a non-MICO mode.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

In addition to the above-described exemplary embodiments, furtherembodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106 or 107) may be configuredto include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium,where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processoris configured to read and execute the program instructions from thememory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-readable non-transitory memory mediumcomprising program instructions that, when executed by a processor of anAccess and Mobility Management Function (AMF), cause the AMF to: receivea first registration with a user equipment (UE) over a 3GPP access; andwhen the UE is also registered over a non-3GPP access and when amobile-initiated connection only (MICO) mode is activated, the AMF willnot send a notification message with an access type indicating the 3GPPaccess over the non-3GPP access for packet data unit (PDU) sessionsassociated with the 3GPP access.
 2. The computer-readable non-transitorymemory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are furtherexecutable to cause the AMF to: deliver a downlink (DL) network accessstratum (NAS) TRANSPORT message via the non-3GPP access when the UE isin the MICO mode and in a 5GMM-IDLE state for the 3GPP access.
 3. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein theprogram instructions are further executable to cause the AMF to: whenthe UE is also registered over the non-3GPP access and the UE is not ina 5GMM-IDLE state for 3GPP access, select either the 3GPP access or thenon-3GPP access for delivery of a downlink (DL) NAS TRANSPORT messagewhen the UE is in the MICO mode.
 4. The computer-readable non-transitorymemory medium of claim 1, wherein the UE is an accessory device (AD). 5.The computer-readable non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, whereinthe MICO mode is activated over the 3GPP access and a non-MICO mode isactivated over the non-3GPP access.
 6. The computer-readablenon-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the programinstructions are further executable to cause the AMF to: accept deviceregistration for the UE for the MICO mode with an all public land mobilenetwork (PLMN) registration area allowed indication in a MICO indicationinformation element (IE).
 7. The computer-readable non-transitory memorymedium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are furtherexecutable to cause the AMF to: refrain from paging the UE when the MICOmode is activated.
 8. An Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF),comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium; and aprocessor couple to the non-transitory computer-readable memory medium,wherein the AMF is configured to: receive a first registration with auser equipment (UE) over a 3GPP access; and when the UE is alsoregistered over a non-3GPP access and when a mobile-initiated connectiononly (MICO) mode is activated, the AMF will not send a notificationmessage with an access type indicating the 3GPP access over the non-3GPPaccess for packet data unit (PDU) sessions associated with the 3GPPaccess.
 9. The AMF of claim 8, wherein the AMF is further configured to:deliver a downlink (DL) network access stratum (NAS) TRANSPORT messagevia non-3GPP access when the UE is in the MICO mode and in a 5GMM-IDLEstate for the 3GPP access.
 10. The AMF of claim 8, wherein AMF isfurther configured to: when the UE is also registered over the non-3GPPaccess and the UE is not in a 5GMM-IDLE state for 3GPP access, selecteither the 3GPP access or the non-3GPP access for delivery of a downlink(DL) NAS TRANSPORT message when the UE is in the MICO mode.
 11. The AMFof claim 8, wherein the UE is an accessory device (AD).
 12. The AMF ofclaim 8, wherein the MICO mode is activated over the 3GPP access and anon-MICO mode is activated over the non-3GPP access.
 13. The AMF ofclaim 8, wherein AMF is further configured to: accept deviceregistration for the UE for the MICO mode with an all public land mobilenetwork (PLMN) registration area allowed indication in a MICO indicationinformation element (IE).
 14. The AMF of claim 8, wherein AMF is furtherconfigured to: refrain from paging the UE when the MICO mode isactivated.
 15. A method for operating an Access and Mobility ManagementFunction (AMF), the method comprising: receiving a first registrationwith a user equipment (UE) over a 3GPP access; and when the UE is alsoregistered over a non-3GPP access and when a mobile-initiated connectiononly (MICO) mode is activated, refrain from sending a notificationmessage with an access type indicating the 3GPP access over the non-3GPPaccess for packet data unit (PDU) sessions associated with the 3GPPaccess.
 16. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:delivering a downlink (DL) network access stratum (NAS) TRANSPORTmessage via the non-3GPP access when the UE is in the MICO mode and in a5GMM-IDLE state for the 3GPP access.
 17. The method of claim 15, themethod further comprising: when the UE is also registered over thenon-3GPP access and the UE is not in 5GMM-IDLE state for 3GPP access,selecting either the 3GPP access or the non-3GPP access for delivery ofa downlink (DL) network access stratum (NAS) TRANSPORT message when theUE is in the MICO mode.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the MICOmode is activated over the 3GPP access and a non-MICO mode is activatedover the non-3GPP access.
 19. The method of claim 15, the method furthercomprising: accepting device registration for the UE for the MICO modewith an all public land mobile network (PLMN) registration area allowedindication in a MICO indication information element (IE).
 20. The methodof claim 15, the method further comprising: refraining from paging theUE when the MICO mode is activated.